Larry Lessig's Presentation
from the watch-this dept
John sent in the following link to a great flash display of Larry Lessig's latest talk. It's a large file (8 megs) and the presentation runs about half an hour. However, if you have the time and the bandwidth watch it. Lessig gets better and better at presenting every time he does it and he claims this is one of his last presentations. It would be a real loss if he does stop presenting, because he is very convincing, and backs up his arguments very well. Many of the historical points he makes I've heard him talk about before (especially how Disney is almost entirely built off of taking works from the public domain, and now how they do everything to make sure their own works will never be part fo the public domain). However, one point he made is sticking with me, which is the idea that if you're explaining, you're losing. We all keep thinking that if we explain these things clearly enough, maybe people will finally realize how silly they're being. Meanwhile, the entertainment industry has avoided explaining and has stuck to bumpersticker like statements. They make these statements as if they're fact and people believe them. It's easier to take a one sentence, catchy explanation and believe it (even if it's wrong) than to think about the more complex issues and really deal with them. This is, of course, a huge problem.
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just listened
So what do we do?
The only thing that you can do as a citizen without unlimited funds is to write. Don't email, don't call, write. Congressional leaders routinely ignore email and phone messages like bad tech support does. Putting a piece of paper in their hands seems to be one of the only ways, besides a $1200 check and lunch at a 5 star resturant, to get theem to even acknowledge you muchless sway opinion.
Since January 2002 I have been sending 1 letter a week to my representatives. I include Sentate, House Executive, and the various state and local reps. Since then I have received constant acknowledgement that my voice is at the very least being heard. I know this is in no way a grand influence of power, but I am at least getting my opinion to the people who make decesions.
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